Monday, December 2, 2013

In one of my previous posts I made the argument that open borders was not always the practical libertarian position. In my Two Islands post, I argued that statist-minded immigrants could and likely would destroy liberty if allowed to immigrate in large numbers. Here is what I said:

Let’s suppose there are two island nations. One is named Liberty Island
and the other one is Statist Island. Both are democracies. Neither have a
constitutionally constrained government. Both practice open
immigration. Since both island nations are democracies, the people get
the government they vote for.

On Liberty Island, the people
prefer smaller government, one which protects life, liberty, and
property. In general, the government doesn’t interfere unless a citizen
violates someone else’s right to life, liberty, and property. For the
most part, the role of government is to provide a small, defensive
military. Consequently, the tax rates are very low. The people of
Liberty Island are very prosperous.

On Statist Island, the people
want their government to provide a wide range of services and to
regulate the affairs of its citizens and companies. Consequently, the
government consumes a very large proportion of the wealth. Statist
Island has high unemployment and low growth rates. Over the past few
years, things have been so bad that many have migrated to Liberty
Island, not in search of liberty but primarily as a way to feed their
families. They have brought with them many of their customs and culture
which have made Liberty Island a more vibrant and diverse island.Unfortunately, they have also brought with them their statist political philosophy.The
new arrivals join with a minority of Liberty Island voters and start
winning elections. These elected representatives encouraged more and
more Statist Islanders to migrate to Liberty Island. Soon the statists
were in control of the Liberty Island legislative branches and the
presidency. They then enacted statist policies and liberty was no longer
to be found on Liberty Island.

Over at Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen links to a study of U.S. Immigrants' Attitudes Toward Libertarian Values by Hal Pashler which found that immigrants to the US generally are hostile toward libertarian ideas. Here is the abstract:

While
there has been much discussion of libertarians’ (generally although not
universally favorable) attitudes toward liberal immigration policies, the
attitudes of immigrants to the United States toward libertarian values have not
previously been examined. Using data from the 2010 General Social Survey, we
asked how American-born and foreign-born residents differed in attitudes toward
a variety of topics upon which self-reported libertarians typically hold strong
pro-liberty views (as described by Iyer et al., 2012). The results showed a
marked pattern of lower support for pro-liberty views among immigrants as
compared to US-born residents. These differences were generally statistically
significant and sizable, with a few scattered exceptions. With increasing
proportions of the US population being foreign-born, low support for
libertarian values by foreign-born residents means that the political prospects
of libertarian values in the US are likely to diminish over time.

While
there has been much discussion of libertarians’ (generally although not
universally favorable) attitudes toward liberal immigration policies,
the attitudes of immigrants to the United States toward libertarian
values have not previously been examined. Using data from the 2010
General Social Survey, we asked how American-born and foreign-born
residents differed in attitudes toward a variety of topics upon which
self-reported libertarians typically hold strong pro-liberty views (as
described by Iyer et al., 2012). The results showed a marked pattern of
lower support for pro-liberty views among immigrants as compared to
US-born residents. These differences were generally statistically
significant and sizable, with a few scattered exceptions. With
increasing proportions of the US population being foreign-born, low
support for libertarian values by foreign-born residents means that the
political prospects of libertarian values in the US are likely to
diminish over time. - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/12/u-s-immigrants-attitudes-toward-libertarian-values.html#sthash.9gnQg64r.dpuf

While
there has been much discussion of libertarians’ (generally although not
universally favorable) attitudes toward liberal immigration policies,
the attitudes of immigrants to the United States toward libertarian
values have not previously been examined. Using data from the 2010
General Social Survey, we asked how American-born and foreign-born
residents differed in attitudes toward a variety of topics upon which
self-reported libertarians typically hold strong pro-liberty views (as
described by Iyer et al., 2012). The results showed a marked pattern of
lower support for pro-liberty views among immigrants as compared to
US-born residents. These differences were generally statistically
significant and sizable, with a few scattered exceptions. With
increasing proportions of the US population being foreign-born, low
support for libertarian values by foreign-born residents means that the
political prospects of libertarian values in the US are likely to
diminish over time - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/12/u-s-immigrants-attitudes-toward-libertarian-values.html#sthash.9gnQg64r.dpuf

If the primary purpose of government is to protect liberty, which most libertarians believe, then a government is justified in restricting immigration of individuals who hold views contrary to a constitutionally constrained government. Furthermore, if a group of immigrants has been shown to be overwhelmingly anti-libertarian in their views, then government is justified in limiting entry of individuals from that group just because they are from those countries where the people are hostile toward liberty.

Unfortunately, the US government's policy has been to encourage immigration from countries where there is little support for limited government, free exchange of ideas and products, and the rule of law. When a country is fairly evenly divided, these statist voters will have a huge impact in the future direction of the US.

EDIT: The original title of this post was "Libertarian Case Against Open Borders."